Habertürk pulls reporter from the field for calling Hamas' October 7 attack a 'terrorist act'

Habertürk Foreign News Editor Saime Toktaş, while reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict from the region, referred to the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, stating: "What happened on October 7 was a terrorist act. Civilians were killed, massacred. Then, that country wanted to retaliate, but this time thousands of people were killed on the other side."

While Toktaş's remarks sparked reactions, Habertürk Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Yeşilkaya announced that they had 'immediately pulled' Toktaş from the field.

Yeşilkaya's statement is as follows;

"As Habertürk, our stance and editorial policy regarding Israel's attacks on Gaza are very clear. We have shown great sensitivity regarding the language we use while reporting the inhumane massacres in Gaza to the public since the first days of the process. We will continue to do so. In this context, we find the sentences uttered by our reporter unacceptable and are immediately pulling her from the field."

SAİME TOKTAŞ APOLOGIZED

Saime Toktaş made the following statement on her social media account:

"We have been broadcasting from Israel for days. Despite our efforts to protect ourselves and our language, this is also an information war, and we can inevitably be influenced. We have experienced some serious difficulties regarding security over the last few days. Due to the stress and mental distraction this brought with it, a sentence slipped out of my mouth that I would never use and have never used until today.

I could not collect my thoughts afterwards due to the stress of the broadcast. First of all, as someone who has been following this inhumane massacre in Gaza for days, I am very sorry. I sincerely apologize to the public for a sentence that I would never use being carried to the screen due to mental distraction."

News Source: 12punto